FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO) – Lt. Governor Beckwith joined Kayla Blakeslee yesterday morning on Fort Wayne’s Morning News to talk property taxes across Indiana.

Kayla opened the conversation with a tweet Beckwith had made, calling property taxes “immoral” and suggesting a bold and complete overhaul. She then asked the Lieutenant Governor what he meant by the statement.

“The big thing is, it’s not ever really your property if you have to pay the government rent to stay there, so we’ve created a system totally against what our founders envisioned.”‘

He then delves into our unalienable rights guaranteed to us as U.S. citizens and how he feels property taxes infringe on those.

“We recognize private property is fundamental for the pursuit of happiness,” Beckwith continued as he broke down his ideology of how the founding fathers outlined in our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. “To me, when the government taxes you, especially on property, they tax you on unrealized gains, as your property gains value, we are going to assess that and tell you the worth and tax you on what we think you are worth,” Beckwith concludes, sharing his obviously negative feelings toward the current taxation process.

He then cites a statement by California Representative Nancy Pelosi back in 2021, where she also wanted to tax unrealized gains in stocks and received major pushback from the public and her colleagues. He then raises the question of why we are pushing back harshly on that issue but not this one. Aren’t they fundamentally the same thing?

In the same tweet, Beckwith states property taxes should be replaced with a 7 percent sales tax on services, and Kayla asks him within his vision what that would look like for the average Hoosier family.

Beckwith credits JD Prescott for that specific part of the idea. He has a bill to repeal and replace property taxes over the next 7 years that would do just that and impose a 7 percent sales tax on services. He also cites that we could decrease government with this idea; we could eliminate the county assessor’s office, which would, in turn, make for a smaller government. “Almost half of the treasurer’s offices, and some of the other mechanisms of county government, would be eliminated as well, so we’d be limiting and shrinking government and actually assessing a user fee, which would be that 7 percent sales tax on services.” Beckwith continues with his point.

“If the government has the right to tax our property, then they would have the right to tax our life and liberty.” Beckwith drives in.

Kayla agreed with his points and mentioned she also needs to speak with JD Prescott to get his side of the tax bill that the two are proposing. She follows with the question of how likely it is that this bill gains traction and has a place in the future.

“Right now, most people in the political world think it’s a wing and a prayer, and they aren’t wrong. It is certainly not a popular thing when you talk about getting rid of property taxes for local governments, and there will obviously be pushback,” Beckwith begins in response. “There is obviously concern you’re going to remove their revenue, but as Prescott has reassured, they will have the same amount of revenue with the 7 percent sales tax on services.” He says he will continue to advocate for the proposal, citing that Florida is getting rid of their property taxes. He then goes on to ask: Why couldn’t we?

Kayla mentioned the consideration of other states and asked about California’s property taxes, and mentioned the cautionary tale California stands to be on the issue.

“The reason values are through the roof in California is because they tried to stop rising property taxes 30 or 40 years ago and kept a 1 percent constitutional cap,” Beckwith began. “40 years ago in California, property values would have been similar to what they are in Indiana now, but what the government has arbitrarily and maliciously done is they’ve pushed mechanisms to increase property value, so when you go out there and you buy a 900 square foot home, it’s a million and a half dollars, or a 2,000 square foot home is 2 to 3 million dollars, its because 1 percent on 2 million is what the government is going to collect which is much more than 200 thousand.”

To hear the full story from Kayla and Beckwith on the air, click here.